MAIL ORDER MONSTERS - THE MANUAL
GREETINGS, SHREWD CUSTOMER.
Welcome to Mail Order Monsters, Inc. Let these pages be your guide to
the fantasies which can be yours through our services. Our Mail ORder
Psychon Heroes (affectionately known as "morphs" for short) are the
finest in the galaxy. Your wish is our command.
Look on page 2 for information about how to take morphs out for a Free
Trial (the Beginner option), so you can learn how combat works, and so
you can get a feel for the different morph and weapon capabilities.
When you're ready for something more complex, move on to our Rental
Option (Intermediate) described on page 4. Spend 1000 psychons to put
together your own combinations of morphs and weapons. Then choose the
battlefield and the contest.
Our Tournament competition, described on page 5, is for experts. The
results of each contest are saved on your Owner Disk. Winners receive
psychons and victory points which their owners can spend on better
weapons and traits, or on new morphs. Begin with 500 psychons and earn
your way up to the top.
For general information about morph traits, extras and weapons and the
importance of each, turn to page 6.
Important Note: For information about how to proceed as you use the Mail
Order Monsters program, watch the top of the screen as you work.
FREE TRIAL (BEGINNER)
Select Free Trial to go straight to the morph vats to pick from our
twelve basic morph stocks. Then use your joystick to move the highlight
from morph to morph and press the button when you have the one you want.
A Morph Summary screen will appear, and you must type in a name for the
morph you have chosen. If you choose the one player option, you will be
spirited to the battlefield as soon as you press Return (after typing in
the name). If two humans are playing, you'll go to the battlefield after
the second player has chosen and named his morph.
At the conclusion of each contest, you will have a chance to repeat the
battle. If you're playing against the computer, you can ask for a
different opponent as well. If you choose not to repeat the battle, game
control will return to the original options screen.
OPERATING MONSTERS IN THE BATTLEFIELD
1. Player Color and Control - Player One's morph is always yellow.
Player Two's (or the computer's if only one human is playing) is always
red. Player One's status window appears on the upper left and Player
Two's on the upper right.
Use the joystick to move your morph (represented by the square) on the
big map. Overlap your opponent's square and the display will change
scale, filling the screen with the sector you are both occupying so you
can fight it out morph to morph.
2. How to Attack - To use the weapon your morph has readied - listed in
the upper left of each player's status window - press the button and
simultaneously move the joystick in the direction you want to fire, hit,
breathe, sting, etc. When you use the readied weapon, its name will turn
red in its status window. When it's reloaded and ready to be fired
again, its name will turn green.
The status window also lists the vital supplies you are carrying - Life
force, Food (needed to make physical attacks), Rounds (needed for
weapons that use projectiles or chemicals) and Energy (needed for
weapons and defenses that require energy). When your supply begins to
run low for any item, the item's name will turn yellow. When it runs
dangerously low, the name will turn red.
3. Winning the Battle - Each battlefield contains many other enemies in
addition to the morph you are fighting. If you fall into one of the
urban ruins or are attacked by a Wandroid, you must face a tank or
wandering beast which will be under the control of your opponent.
Similiarly, you will control the tank or beast if your opponent
encounters one of these difficulties. Seize the opportunity! It's a
wonderful way to wear down an opposing morph's life force at no risk to
your own morph's hide. The winner is the last morph living or the first
morph to defeat 5 opponents (including Wandroids and Urban Defenders).
USING THE STATUS WINDOW MENUS TO CHANGE WEAPONS AND OPTIONS
Press the button twice without moving the stick to replace the
information in your morph's status window with a menu of options. The
Attack option will be highlighted. To change weapons, press the button
to select Attack. A list of the weapons your morph is carrying will
appear. Move the highlight to the weapon you want and press the button
to select it.
To select options other than Attack, move the highlight to the option
you want before pressing the button. Here's what each option does:
Attack - brings up the weapons and natural attacks your morph has at its
disposal.
Map - returns you to the battlefield without changing anything.
Device - brings up a list of devices available in the Intermediate and
Tournament games (devices like Medikits for healing, drugs for temporary
boosts in speed and minds, etc.) Also, at all levels, selecting Devices
brings you a report on how much you have left in the way of Rounds,
Energy and Food.
Defense Off - turns off the defense you are carrying, if you're carrying
one. Defenses use energy when they are activated by an attack. If your
energy supply is low and your only remaining weapon is an energy weapon,
you might prefer to go with a "the best defense is a good offense"
strategy.
Special - brings up a list of actions you can take. Selecting Pause (by
pressing the button) pauses the game until either player presses a
joystick button. For a description of the Quit and Surrender options,
see the description of the Tournament option on page 5.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO FIRST TIME CUSTOMERS!
Mail Order Monsters Inc. strongly urges that you practice selecting
options - particularly weapons - while on the big map. It can be fatal
to fumble with your options while your morph is being pursued by a
determined enemy.
Each morph comes equiped with differing strengths and weaknesses and
with different extras, weapons and defenses. In the Intermediate and
Tournament games, all extras (beyond the basic ones a morph stock comes
with) and all weapons, rounds, energy, food, defenses and other devices
must be purchased.
Turn to page 6 for a description of the various traits, weapons,
defenses and devices so that you might think about how to use each as
you play. Even though you cannot change these items during Free Trial
games, studying the information on those pages in combination with your
trial contests will help you get ready for games in which you must make
your own choices in these matters.
RENTAL (INTERMEDIATE LEVEL)
As in the Free Trial game, after each contest you will be given the
opportunity to fight again, and if you're playing against the computer
you may ask for a different opponent (which the computer will pick
randomly) for the replay. There are two important differences between
the Free Trial and Rental options.
1. In Morph Meadow - When the program finishes loading (after you make
your choice of level and respond to the computer's prompt to type in a
name for your owner), you'll find your owner standing on Morph Meadow.
Walk your owner (with your joystick) over the Vats to pick out a morph.
Then lead the morph to the Weapon Shop to buy weapons and sundries
(described on page 7). Finally lead it down to the Transmat (matter
transmission) Boot for transmission to a battlefield.
You'll have a total of 1000 pyschons to spend on a morph plus any trait
upgrades, extras and equipment you may want to purchase. As you make
your selections, watch the top portion of the screen for information
about how to proceed. And if you make a mistake, don't worry. Before you
leave the vats, you'll have one last chance to say whether or not you
want the morph you've been working on. If you answer no, you'll return
to the Meadow so you can start over.
2. Choosing the Contest and the Terrain - When all human players have
led their morphs into the Transmat Booth, one player will choose the
battleground, and the other will choose among three possible contests.
If you get to choose the battleground, think carefully about whether
your morph - or your opponent's morph - has the equipment (gills, wings,
etc.,) best suited for a contest in the terrain you are considering. And
then hope your opponent doesn't pick a contest totally unsuited for
/your/ beast. Here are some of the possibilities:
* Destruction - The same game as is offered at the Free Trial level,
morph against morph until someone is defeated or one of the morphs has
killed 5 opponents (including Wandroids and Urban defenders).
* Capture the Flags - There are eight flags available on the big map.
They must be collected /in order/. To find out which flag is which, you
must run into and back out of an area containing a flag, avoiding or
killing the guard (which will be under your opponent's control) in the
process. After finding flag 1, start looking for flag 2, etc. You win by
collecting all 8 flags or by killing your opponent's morph before it can
collect all 8 flags.
* The Horde - A horde of invaders under computer control will start at
the top of the screen and move downward. You and your fellow player -
human or computer - must cooperate to keep the hordlings from reaching
the bottom. The winner is whoever destroys the most hordlings. If
hordlings make it all the way, you both lose. (Note: missiles and bombs
may not be used against hordlings.)
THE TOURNAMENT GAME
When you're ready to tackle the ultimate challenge, select the
Tournament game. It's just like the Rental (Intermediate) level, with
these important differences:
1) You only get 500 psychons to start. You must earn additional psychons
(to spend in the Weapon Shop or for new morphs) plus victory points
(which allow a morph back in the vats for more extras and higher powered
traits) by winning contests.
2) The results of each contest must be saved on an owner disk. If you
need to make an owner disk (from any disk containing information you no
longer need) you'll be given the chance to do so after selecting the
tournament game. The program will then prompt you (in the message area
in the upper portion of the screen) whenever you need to put your owner
disk or the game disk in the drive.
3) In addition to terrain and contest, two contest rules may be selected
as well - one each by each of the two players. Select rules which hamper
your opponent's morph and aid your own - "no chemical attacks" for
instance if the enemy is carrying a Gas gun while your morph is armed
only with a Laspistol. To use your choice to cancel the rule selected by
your opponent, select the same rule again.
4) Before the battle starts, you will be given the chance to say how
many victories a morph must win to be declared the victor.
5) The Special menu - produced by double pressing the button, then
moving the highlight to Special, then pressing the button again -
contains special significance in the tournament game. If you're losing
and your opponent didn't select "no surrender" as a rule, you may select
Special and then Surrender to give up. Your morph will lose the contest,
but it won't lose all its Life force.
If "no surrender" is in force, you can still plead for mercy by
selecting Quit and then pressing your joystick button before the
countdown ends in your status window. If your opponent does likewise
before the countdown ends in his, her or its status window, you'll go
back to the introductory screen. It will be as though the battle was
never fought.
6) To use monsters in your stable, enter the Corral in the Morph Meadow.
There you can Get monsters (for upgrading and for trips to the Transmat
Booth), and you may Pen (save) them. You may also Zap monsters who are
so wounded that it seems the right thing to do. Exit to return to the
Meadow.
Note: To get rid of an owner select the owner at the beginning of a
tournament game, then reject it when asked whether you accept or reject
that owner. You will then be given a chance to erase it from your owner
disk.
THE BASIC MORPH TRAITS
These may be increased for each morph - for a fee, of course - in the
Intermediate and Tournament games. The maximum for all the traits except
Life is 12. Life may go as high as 250. The maximum you may add on any
one trip is 3 for the first four traits and 30 for Life.
Armor - The natural defense against attacks. A tough hide proves very
useful in Beastfu (i.e. hand to claw to tentacle to jaw, etc.) bang-ups!
Muscle - Your morph's ability to duke it out, to kick sand in other
morphs' faces and live to tell about it. Also important for carrying
heavy weapons and devices.
Speed - Crucial for zipping around the terrain and the competition. Slow
morphs are soon no morphs, if they aren't careful.
Mind - Your morph's ability to solve philosophical problems. Perhaps
more importantly, though, the ability to reload quickly after firing.
Dumb morphs get nailed while fumbling with the ammunition.
Life - The longer, the better. Life points are zapped every time an
opponent scores a hit.
MORPH EXTRAS
There are eleven extras to choose among for each morph in the
Intermediate and Tournament games - a total of 20 in all. They belong to
4 groups.
1) Means of movement. Burrow and Gills enable morphs to move at normal
speeds through mountains and water respectively. Teleport brings normal
speed in all terrain.
2) Means of attack. Spit and Sting (projectile attacks), Web (a chemical
attack which freezes an opponent in place for a period of time) and Psi-
blast (a psi, or mind, attack which robs your opponent of his mind
force) are all effective at a distance. The other natural attacks -
fiery Breath (chemical), the shocking Electrotouch (energy), and Claws
and Fangs (Beastfu aids) - must be delivered at close range.
3) Defenses. Each of the five available reduces the damage to your morph
from a specific type of attack. Anti-thump protects against physical
attacks, Anti-e against energy attacks, Anti-chem against chemical
attacks, Anti-proj against projectile attacks and Anti-psi against
psionic (mind) attacks.
4) Natural aids. Hands and Tentacles are required to operate certain
weapons. Healing insures a slow regeneration of life energy.
Photosynthesis guarantees its owner a small but steady supply of energy
needed for energy attacks and to operate certain defenses and devices.
(But don't forget to buy an E-Pack.)
WEAPONS
Our weapons shop inventory is second to none in variety, power and
reliability. Use our Rental option (Intermediate level) to learn what
each weapon offers in the trade-offs between power, weight and
ammunition consumption. Then, when you move on to ownership in the
Tournament game, choose and use weapons appropriate to the strength and
abilities of each morph in your stable.
Here are some tips gleaned from successful owners:
1) If weight is a concern (because your morph isn't very strong and is
already pretty slow), go for the Autorifle or the Boorang (always
guaranteed to return to its sender) on a modest budget. Go for the
Needler or Sword if you're all but broke, and for the Lapistol - a
spiffy little laser number - if money is no object. (Lapistols, like all
energy weapons, require their users to own and carry an Energy pack to
hold the energy they need to fire. But in return for the extra weight
and cost, they deliver a mighty wallop.)
2) If you'd like to be able to launch attacks on the big map, buy
yourself some missiles or a bomb. But don't expect them to be light or
to be a modest drain on your ammunition supply. (Note: If you're worried
about weight, choose the Summary option for another look at your morph's
basic traits. If you're trying to carry too much, that fact will be
reflected in a decline in your Speed trait.)
3) The E-stealer is a handy little device which sucks the energy from
your opponent's E-pack. If you get good with it, you can actually leave
a battle with more energy than you had when you entered it.
4) The Multilas (that's right, /lots/ of laser beams) and the Mindsink
(for slowing down even the smartest morph) both require tentacles, and
the Sword and the E-mace (a wonderful combination of electricity and
blunt instrument) require hands. The E-mace, Flamer, Sword and Grav-gun
choices must be used at close range.
SUNDRIES
Go to the Sundries department to outfit yourself with the ammunition
required by your weapons and intentions, and to buy additional useful
equipment when you can afford it and your beast is strong enough to
carry it.
Be sure to buy food if you plan to use any physical attacks. Be sure to
buy rounds and energy if you plan to use weapons which require them.
(And remember, you'll need an E-pack, if you don't already own one, to
carry your energy.)
No morph may own more than one of the 6 defenses offered. Use the
Aqualung and the Jet pack to overcome the lack of gills or wings and the
Medi-kit to make up for not owning Healing. And use Star Java and
MemoryRNA for temporary boosts of speed of movement and speed of mind.
(To use a device, select Devices and then select the device you want to
use from the menu which will appear.)
You may sell weapons and devices back for 1/2 the number of psychons you
paid for them.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
In May of 1980 Evan Robinson departed southern California for the
dubious climes of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, leaving behind him a class-4
smog alert and what was probably his last chance at a normal life. The
same day, Mount St. Helens exploded sending a cubic kilometer of ash
into the stratosphere. Evan disclaimed any responsibility.
One month later Paul Reiche III also left California and headed for Lake
Geneva to join TSR Hobbies Inc. where he met Evan who was still trying
to convince everyone that he really had nothing to do with the eruption.
Meanwhile, Nicky Arvan (soon to be Nicky Robinson) made a surprise move
from Pomona, Evan's old school, to the University of California at
Berkeley, Paul's alma mater. At Berkeley she not only semi-seriously
studied Molecular Biology, but co-founded California Telecomputing
Systems, where she wrote dull business software.
Back in Wisconsin, Evan and Paul were hard at work writing material for
Dungeons & Dragons(R) and freezing in sub-zero weather. Following a
rapid thaw, Paul recovered his senses and returned to Berkeley with Evan
in tow. Paul began designing computer games, and Evan began dating
Nicky. By the time Paul's first game was published, Evan and Nicky were
happily married, completing their educations at Santa Cruz, and
realizing that Hewlett-Packard and veterinary school held fewer charms
than computer games. Before finally teaming up, Paul designed Archon,
Murder on the Zinderneuf, and Adept with Free Fall Associates, and Evan
and Nicky converted to the Commodore a certain buggy Atari game too
heretical to see the light of day.
Nicky Robinson likes to splice genes, doctor sick animals, play with her
microwave oven, and occasionally wonders why she is working with a tall
blonde alien and a man who wears camouflage. Evan has an unusual
fascination for weapons modern, archaic and futuristic, as well as
musical instruments which sound like squealing cats. He is also probably
the only programmer in Northern California who does not drink coffee.
Paul Reiche III likes bad horror movies, The Far Side, and especially
Laurie, his fiance (sorry Ms. Hannah). As a group, all three enjoy
science-fiction, fantasy and adventure in any form available. Lastly,
Paul and Evan are members of CTHULHU, a confederation of ex-TSR
hirelings, which sporadically publishes what some consider the funniest
newsletter available.
In creating Mail Order Monsters, Paul, Evan and Nicky pushed one of
their computers so hard that rumor has it they actually fried its
insides trying to improve the program.
CREDITS
The artists would like the thank the following random assortment of
people:
Anne Westfall, Robert Leyland, and Jon Freeman for answering stupid
questions late at night and in general letting us pick their brains.
Matthias Genser and Erol Otus for the Amoeboid, the shiny Worm and much
playtesting.
Don Daglow, David (Worms?) Maynard, Rich Hilleman, David Grady and lots
of other EA people who worked late just to help us.
Laurie and Devin Lessen, Georgiann Feltz, Bill and Gloria Robinson,
Naomi Arvan, Norm Lane, Susan Lee-Merrow, Diane Ascher-Leyland, Jeremy
Centauri Leyland and Ken Zarifes just for being there.